Hopper door operating mechanism



June 1959 I w. E. FRITZ HOPPER DOOR OPERATING MECHANISM 4 Sheets-Sheet 1Filed July 13, 1956 IINVENTOR. Wllgamfif7i%, BY 7 M 1959 June w. E.FRITZ HOPPER DOOR OPERATING MECHANISM 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 13,1956 INVENTOR.

4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed July 13, 1956 June 2, 1959 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 FiledJuly 13, 1956 INVENTQR.

Unitd Staes s HQPPER DOOR OPERATiNG MECHANISM William E. Fritz,Hinsdale, 111., assignor to Enterprise Railway Equipment Company,Chicago, 111., a corporation of Illinois Application July 13, 1956,Serial No. 597,701

4 Claims. (Cl. 105-250) This invention relates to mechanisms foroperating hop-- per doors of railway ballast cars. It constitutes animprovement over Dorey application Serial No. 525,962, filed August 2,1955, and over Fritz and Willard application Serial No. 596,499,filedluly 9, 1956, both assigned to the assignee of this application.

Among the objects of this invention are: To provide for positivelymoving a hopper door of a railway ballast car to any position betweenopen and closed position; to employ for this purpose a strut pivoted atone end to the door and at its other end toan arm extending from a hubarranged in such manner that the force holding the door closed is nottransmitted to the strut from the hub through the pivotal connection tothe arm; to provide complementary seating faces on the strut and arm fortransmitting compressive stress therebetween; and to limit the movementof the strut and arm to an over center toggle locked position by ashoulder on the arm engaging the strut.

Other objects of this invention will, in part, be obvious and in partappear hereinafter.

This invention is disclosed in the embodiment-thereof shown in theaccompanying drawings and it comprises the features of construction,combination of elements and arrangement of parts that will beexemplified in the construction hereinafter set forth and the scope ofthe application of which will be indicated in the appended claims.

For a more complete understanding of the nature and scope of thisinvention reference can be had to the following detailed description,taken together with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevational view of .a hoppersection of a railwayballasting car having the. improved door operating mechanism of thisinvention appliedrthereto;

Figure 2 is a vertical end .view of-the structure shown in Figure 1 asviewed from'left to right and showing the worm and "gear housing partlybroken away;

Figure 3 is a vertical sectional view taken generally along the line 3-3of Figure 1 with one door being shown closed and the other: door beingshown fully open;

Figure 4 is a view, similar to Figure 3,. butcshowing the doors indifferent operative positions between the full open and fullclosedpositions; and

Figure 5 is a-pla-n view of the arm and strut which are employed tooperate a door.

In the drawings, indicates the center sill and 11 one of the side wallsof the car and interposed therebetween is a hopper including slopingupper floors sections 12 and 13, respectively, leading downwardly fromthe center sill 10 and the car sidewall 11 and which in cooperation withend sloping floors 14 constitute a foursided hoppersection. The endfloors 14 connect with lower transversely extending beam members orbaflie plates 15. The sloping iioors 12 and 13 are reenforced at theirlower ends by angle beam members 16 and secured thereto are hinge butts17 which in turn carry hinge pins 18 for pivotally supporting oppositelydisposed swinging doors 19. As shown in Figure 2, the doors 19 arearranged to define a V-shaped hopper in closed position.

2,888,884 Patented .i'nne 2, 1959 The swinging end of each door 19 isflanged at- 20-a nd these flanges are arrangedto abut a vertical wallsection 21 of a diverting member that is shown generally at 22.

The'diverting member 22 is preferably located centrally above the railon which the car runs and it includes walls 23 which slope downwardlyand outwardly from the vertical wall section-21to directthe ballast awayfrom the rail.

The doors 19 are opened and closed throughthe medi-' um of rotatableshafts 24 which are located rearwardly of the doors and in the path ofopening movement thereof.

The shafts 24 are rotatably mountedin the transverse beam members orbaflie members 15 by means'of a suitable bearing 26 at one end of eachshaft 24 and at the opposite end of each shaft is mounted a Worm andgear housing 27. Each housing 27 encloses an operating gear.28,

Figure 2, and a cooperating worm gear 29. The worm gears 29 are operatedby suitable cross shafts one :of which is. indicated at 31 in Figure 2.The cross shafts are provided with suitable operating heads. 32 forreceiving an operating bar to turn the respective worm gear and rotatethe respectiveshaft 24.

The operating mechanism interconnectingthe shafts 24 and the doors. 19are shown more clearly in Figures 3 and 4 of the drawings. It will benoted that. each .mechanism includes a hub 33 which is non-rotatablymounted on the respective shafts 24 and that each: hub 33 has a radiallyextending arm 34 formed integrally therewith. Preferably the hub 33 andarm 34 comprise a single casting.

Pivoted at 35 'by a pin at the outer end of the arm 34 is one end of astrut 36 the other end of which is pivoted by a trunnion at 37 to ahinge beam member 38 on the under side of the respective door 19; Itwill be. understood that two such mechanisms are provided for each door19 as illustrated in Figure 1.

With a view to holding the door 19 in the closed position withoutapplying any stress to the pivot pin 35, the outer end of the arm 34 isprovided with a cylindricalconcave seating surface 4-1-that is :arrangedto be engaged by a complementary correspondingly shaped seating surface42 around the periphery of a head 43 that is formed integrallywith.thestrut 36. Theicenter of curvature of the seating surface 41 iscoincident with. the .pivot'35. Thus, whenthe door 19 is in theclosedposition, a :substantial portion of the concave :seating surface 41faces the door and the force required to hold it closed is transmitteddirectly from. the-arm 34, through the concave seating surface 41 to thecorrespondinglyshapedend or head 43 of the strut 36 and is transmittedas acompressive force therethrough to the door 19.

In order to limit the movement of thepivot 35. to the over center toggleposition shown in Figure 3 along a line 44 interconnecting it and theaxis of rotation of the shaft 24 and slightly beyond a line 45interconnecting the pivot 37 and the axis of rotation of the shaft-24, ashoulder 46 is formed at'the outer end of the arm34 at the outer end ofthe concave seating surface 41- and it is arranged to engage a neckeddown portion 47 of the strut 36 when the door 19 is fully closed. Thisengagement prevents further movement of the pivot 35 and is arranged topermit such movement past the line 45 where it is in theover centertoggle locked position.

In operation, assuming, that it is desired to move the door 19 from theclosed position shown in Figure 3 to the open position, the shaft 24 isrotated by the operating head 32 individual thereto in the directionindicated by the arrow 48. The first movement of the arm 34 in thisdirection effects a movement of the pivot 35 downwardly past the line 45joining the pivot 37 and the axis of rotation of the shaft 24 to unlockthe toggle. Continued rotation of the shaft 24 in the directionindicated by the arrow 48 causes the door 19 to move toward the openposition. Since the arm 34 is directly pivotally connected at 35 to oneendof the strut 36 and the other end of the strut 36 is directlypivotally connected at 37 to the door 19, the latter is positively movedto any position between closed and open position, depending upon theextent of movement of the shaft 24. At no time is the door 19 free ofcontrol of the shaft 24. This permits the door 19 to be gradually openedfor effecting even distribution of the ballast as the car moves alongthe track as will be understood readily.

When the door 19 is to be moved from the open position shown in Figure 3to the closed position, the shaft 24 is rotated in the directionindicated by the arrow 49 in Figure 4. The arm 34 swings in a similardirection and moves the strut 36 endwise to swing the door 19 toward theclosed position. Since the strut 36 is at a substantial angle to theplane of the door 19 when it is in the open position and for asubstantial portion of its movement toward the closed position, only aslight amount of force is required to swing the door 19 toward theclosed position.

When the door 19 is in the fully closed position, as shown in Figure 3,the shoulder 46 engaging the necked down portion 47 of the strut 36limits the movement of the pivot 35 in the toggle locked position. Whenthe mechanism occupies the position here shown, the head 43 engages theconcave seating surface 41 and the force required to hold the door 19closed then is transmitted directly from the strut 36 to the arm 34 andthence to the hub 33 and the shaft 24. The pivot pin 35 is madesufiiciently loose so that, when the door 19 is in the fully closedposition, it is unnecessary to apply any stress to the pivot.

Since certain changes can be made in the foregoing construction anddifferent embodiments of the invention can be made without departingfrom the spirit and scope thereof, it is intended that all matter shownin the accompanying drawings and described hereinbefore shall beinterpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

What is claimed as new is:

1. In a railway car having a hopper with a discharge opening and a doorhinged to said hopper adjacent the upper side of said opening andswingable downwardly to an open position, a shaft rotatably mounted onsaid hopper parallel to and below the hinge axis of said door and spacedlaterally outwardly from said door in the direction of opening movementof said door, a hub non-rotatably mounted on said shaft having acircular arcuate concave seat facing said door in closed position, and astrut pivoted at one end to said door and at the other end to said hubwith said other end being circular and arcuate and convex and engagingsaid circular arcuate concave seat when said door is closed.

2. In a railway car having a hopper with a discharge opening and a doorhinged to said hopper adjacent the upper side of said opening andswingable downwardly to an open position, a shaft rotatably mounted onsaid hopper parallel to and below the hinge axis of said door and spacedlaterally outwardly from said door in the direction of opening movementof said door, a hub nonrotatably mounted on said shaft having a circulararcuate concave seat facing said door in closed position, and a strutpivoted at one end to said door and at the other end to said hub withsaid other end being circular and arcuate and convex and engaging saidcircular arcuate concave seat when said door is closed, the pivotalconnection between said strut and hub being provided by a loose fittingpin and the force holding said door closed with the pivotal connectionsto said strut and the axis of rotation of said shaft lying along astraight line being transmitted directly from said hub to said strut andsaid pin being free of such force. 7

3. In a railway car having a hopper with a discharge opening and a doorhinged to said hopper adjacent the upper side of said opening andswingable downwardly to an open position, a shaft rotatably mounted onsaid hopper parallel to and below the hinge axis of said door and spacedlaterally outwardly from said door in the direction of opening movementof said door, a hub non-rotatably mounted on said shaft having acircular arcuate concave seat facing said door in closed position, and astrut pivoted at one end to said door and at the other end to said hubwith said other end being circular and arcuate and convex and engagingsaid circular arcuate concave seat when said door is closed the centerof curvature of said circular arcuate concave seat and of said circulararcuate convex end of said strut being the axis of the pivotalconnection between said hub and said other end of said srut, the pivotalconnection between said strut and hub being provided by a loose fittingpin and the force holding said door closed With the pivotal connectionsto said strut and the axis of rotation of said shaft lying along astraight line being transmitted directly from said hub to said strut andsaid pin being free of such force.

4. In a railway car having a hopper with a discharge opening and a doorhinged to said hopper adjacent the upper side of said opening andswingable downwardly to an open position, a shaft rotatably mounted onsaid hopper parallel to and below the hinge axis of said door and spacedlaterally outwardly from said door in the direction of opening movementof said door, a hub non-rotatably mounted on said shaft having acircular arcuate concave seat facing said door in closed position, astrut pivoted at one end to said door and at the other end to said hubwith said other end being circular and arcuate and convex and engagingsaid circular arcuate concave seat when said door is closed the centerof curvature of said circular arcuate concave seat and of said circulararcuate convex end of said strut being the axis of the pivotalconnection between said hub and said other end of said strut, thepivotal connection between said strut and hub being provided by a loosefitting pin and the force holding said door closed with the pivotalconnections to said strut and the axis of rotation of said shaft lyingalong a straight line being transmitted directly from said hub to saidstrut and said pin being free of such force, the axis of said pivotalconnection between said strut and said hub being located beyond saidline when said shaft is rotated to the extent necessary to close saiddoor, and stop means preventing further rotation of said shaft in a doorclosing direction.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS311,047 Van Wormer Jan. 20, 1885 609,816 Kramer Aug. 30, 1898 644,890Bellows Mar. 6, 1900 694,715 Bellows Mar. 4, 1902 1,108,769 Lively Aug.25, 1914 1,290,572 Keithley et a1. Jan. 7, 1919

